The Prince of Egypt is an animated epic. The films depicts the Book of Exodus, also known as The Second Book of Moses Called Exodus, but whatever right? It follows the life of Moses, the prophet, as he makes the transition from Egyptian royalty to leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The best part? It's Biblical and well done. It all comes together. It's miraculous.
The film opens with a bang, The Pharaoh orders that Hebrew babies must be done away, Yocheved sends her baby boy, Moses, down the river with the hope he will live. And where does Moses end up? The Pharaoh's palace! The very man who wants him dead, is now his father. This just got complicated!
Anyway, Moses (Val Kilmer) grows old as most children tend to do. He's a sovereign prince of Egypt and really close to his foster/adoptive brother, Rameses (he's very important later). The Pharaoh holds a party for Rameses (Ralph Fiennes) and brings him a woman as a surprise, Tzipporah (Michelle Pfeiffer), a Midian woman. Moses is intrigued and helps her escape, he pursues her, but she gets away.
On his walk back home, Moses run into two slaves, Miriam (Sandra Bullock) and Aaron (Jeff Goldblum). They're Moses' biological siblings, but Moses does not believe Miriam. When he arrives home, he confronts his family and finds out he is truly a Hebrew, but he family assures him that he is loved and still a soverneign Prince of Egypt. But feelings of inadequacy sneak up on Moses.
The next day, Moses and Rameses take a day trip to the temples. While there, Moses sees Hebrew severely beaten, and decides to intervene, ultimately killing a man. He flees to the desert where he stumbles upon the Midian tribe and Tzipporah. Moses joins the tribe, marries Tzipporah, becomes a Shepard, and gets a message God. God tells Moses to free his people of the oppression of Egypt (LET MY PEOPLE GO!).
Moses travels back two Egypt and begs his brother Rameses to let his people go. Rameses says he will not free the slaves. See told you he was important and thus the plagues begin. They end with Passover (that is a really terrifying) and the real question is will Moses' people ever be let go?
The film comes together and is an epic for all ages. Kilmer and Fiennes deliver passionate, raw, and believable performances. They're easy to buy as brothers and have fantastic chemistry. Michelle Pfeiffer and Sandra Bullock also given heartwarming performances as Miriam and Tzipporah, reminding the audience the power of love and the power you have when you believe.The animation is stunning and the design is stunning. It's hard to articulate this movie well. It;s touching and beautiful visually and thematically.
Not to mention the music! The music ties the film together and always enhances the plot, unlike some popular television shows (Glee). The music is written by Hans Zimmer, and the lyrics by Steven Schwartz (Godspell anyone?). "Deliver Us" starts the film with a bang, "The Plagues" explores Rameses and Moses' relationship, and "Through Heaven's Eyes" inspires Moses to become someone he can be proud of. Honestly, the music could not be better written or done better! It is the highlight of this fantastic film.
This film is amazing and the quality of the film makes so you don't even have to care about the Old Testament/ Torah to enjoy it. Rent a copy or something, I guarantee you won't regret it.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
5x5: The Best of Summer
5x5: Summer 2012 Highlights
1. My six year old brother graduates from Kindergarten. (I felt old and shamelessly cried when they sang Rainbow Connection. )
2. After seeing Brave Stephanie agreed to "shuffle" in Downtown Silver Spring. Highlight of the summer indeed.
3. My little sister Emily decided to engage with me. She is so cute, especially when she decides to like me.
4. My cousin Jenny, a ridiculously talented athlete, attempted to do cartwheels on the beach on our nightly walk. This is one of the better attempts.
5. Fireworks at my first and maybe only Rodeo in Salinas, California. Yay crime!
I created my 5x5 on my phone over the summer and September. I edited the clips with iMovie 11. The snags I hit were that I couldn't find a way to make my clips full screen without the lip flipping upside down. Another snag I hit was that every time I tried to get a clip of the fireworks you could here the announcers screaming about the "beauty" of Salinas. (Yay John Steinbeck and crime galore!) Thankfully, I found a clip where those guys from Montana and Wyoming weren't talking.
I think it could be better, but I like my clips and organization. I think it would be better full screen.
I think our next independent project should be clips set to a certain piece of music with the objective of creating a specific tone.
Bye for now Blogsphere!
1. My six year old brother graduates from Kindergarten. (I felt old and shamelessly cried when they sang Rainbow Connection. )
2. After seeing Brave Stephanie agreed to "shuffle" in Downtown Silver Spring. Highlight of the summer indeed.
3. My little sister Emily decided to engage with me. She is so cute, especially when she decides to like me.
4. My cousin Jenny, a ridiculously talented athlete, attempted to do cartwheels on the beach on our nightly walk. This is one of the better attempts.
5. Fireworks at my first and maybe only Rodeo in Salinas, California. Yay crime!
I created my 5x5 on my phone over the summer and September. I edited the clips with iMovie 11. The snags I hit were that I couldn't find a way to make my clips full screen without the lip flipping upside down. Another snag I hit was that every time I tried to get a clip of the fireworks you could here the announcers screaming about the "beauty" of Salinas. (Yay John Steinbeck and crime galore!) Thankfully, I found a clip where those guys from Montana and Wyoming weren't talking.
I think it could be better, but I like my clips and organization. I think it would be better full screen.
I think our next independent project should be clips set to a certain piece of music with the objective of creating a specific tone.
Bye for now Blogsphere!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Dystopian Trailer Critique:V For Vendetta (2005)
Title: V for Vendetta
Director: James McTeigue
Rating: R (strong violence and some language)
Release Date: December 11, 2005
Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, and Stephen Fry
The year is 2020, Britain is run by the fascist Party, where the weak and unwanted part of the population are killed. A young women, Evey (Natalie Portman) is saved by a masked terrorist named "V" (Hugo Weaving) who is seeking revenge for his government inflicted deformation, and Evey's comes away from their encounters with a new revolutionary perspective.
This trailer is exemplary because portrays the film's society and protagonists struggles through the use of color, rapid cuts of jarring violent images, and the use of propaganda. The film trailer starts with the sounding of guns and the protagonist, Evey, surrounded by lights, terrified. As a voice-over begins, the trailer flashes clips of Evey in peril rapidly. The belligerent nature of Evey's current conditions give an overview of the totalitarian society in which she resides. The sterile environment and excessive violence in the clips help depict a dominating and cleanly orderly world. Another way the power of the government is displayed to the viewer is through propaganda. The Norsefire party symbol is a reoccurring image throughout the trailer, and is shown by the government officials, a man who corners Evey around, and a crowd of marching soldiers. The propaganda and party support displayed in the trailer shows the large amount of support the government receives. Lastly, the trailer effectively uses the dark colors, such as black and red, portray the violence of V and the government; the black portrays a bleak world of darkness, an evil presence , an ignorant body of citizens, and a war hidden desperately in the shadows of the night.
Not only does the trailer help the viewer understand the setting, it also helps the viewer understand the protagonist. The same montage that shows the audience a world of peril makes a viewer worried for Evey before they even know who she is. The clips depict her as terrified, but willingly to stand up for friends and her opinions. It shows Evey as a relatable and noble protagonist, the audience is already on her side thirty seconds into the trailer. The use of propaganda and party symbols help us understand Evey's peers that she is never seen interacting with. As a rally is held, Evey does not appear to be a part of the picture, making Evey as a typical dystopian protagonist, an outsider looking in. She is never portrayed as a part of the mass. Neither is V, who blatantly proclaims the government "monstrous" to Evey as he plans his acts of defiance. This film trailer portrays a typical dystopia and a typical dystopian protagonist effectively with color, rapid cuts of jarring violent images, and the reoccurring propaganda.
We can use these techniques to make our trailer exemplary. We can use dark colors and bleak settings to portray our world's citizens dismal existence. We can use jarring cuts to make the trailer intense and portray any types of violent action. The jarring cuts help exemplify violence or power. The cuts adding suspense would make the trailer engrossing and less cliche, hopefully. The third and final technique we can take from the V for Vendetta trailer is to use reoccurring images. When used in the V for Vendetta trailer, the reoccurring images of propaganda gradually revealed the exact control of the government. If we to show images from our society's government it would clue the viewer in about everyday life in our fictitious worlds.
Here is another link to the video, just in case.
CTR and Allons-y!
Director: James McTeigue
Rating: R (strong violence and some language)
Release Date: December 11, 2005
Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, and Stephen Fry
The year is 2020, Britain is run by the fascist Party, where the weak and unwanted part of the population are killed. A young women, Evey (Natalie Portman) is saved by a masked terrorist named "V" (Hugo Weaving) who is seeking revenge for his government inflicted deformation, and Evey's comes away from their encounters with a new revolutionary perspective.
This trailer is exemplary because portrays the film's society and protagonists struggles through the use of color, rapid cuts of jarring violent images, and the use of propaganda. The film trailer starts with the sounding of guns and the protagonist, Evey, surrounded by lights, terrified. As a voice-over begins, the trailer flashes clips of Evey in peril rapidly. The belligerent nature of Evey's current conditions give an overview of the totalitarian society in which she resides. The sterile environment and excessive violence in the clips help depict a dominating and cleanly orderly world. Another way the power of the government is displayed to the viewer is through propaganda. The Norsefire party symbol is a reoccurring image throughout the trailer, and is shown by the government officials, a man who corners Evey around, and a crowd of marching soldiers. The propaganda and party support displayed in the trailer shows the large amount of support the government receives. Lastly, the trailer effectively uses the dark colors, such as black and red, portray the violence of V and the government; the black portrays a bleak world of darkness, an evil presence , an ignorant body of citizens, and a war hidden desperately in the shadows of the night.
Not only does the trailer help the viewer understand the setting, it also helps the viewer understand the protagonist. The same montage that shows the audience a world of peril makes a viewer worried for Evey before they even know who she is. The clips depict her as terrified, but willingly to stand up for friends and her opinions. It shows Evey as a relatable and noble protagonist, the audience is already on her side thirty seconds into the trailer. The use of propaganda and party symbols help us understand Evey's peers that she is never seen interacting with. As a rally is held, Evey does not appear to be a part of the picture, making Evey as a typical dystopian protagonist, an outsider looking in. She is never portrayed as a part of the mass. Neither is V, who blatantly proclaims the government "monstrous" to Evey as he plans his acts of defiance. This film trailer portrays a typical dystopia and a typical dystopian protagonist effectively with color, rapid cuts of jarring violent images, and the reoccurring propaganda.
We can use these techniques to make our trailer exemplary. We can use dark colors and bleak settings to portray our world's citizens dismal existence. We can use jarring cuts to make the trailer intense and portray any types of violent action. The jarring cuts help exemplify violence or power. The cuts adding suspense would make the trailer engrossing and less cliche, hopefully. The third and final technique we can take from the V for Vendetta trailer is to use reoccurring images. When used in the V for Vendetta trailer, the reoccurring images of propaganda gradually revealed the exact control of the government. If we to show images from our society's government it would clue the viewer in about everyday life in our fictitious worlds.
Here is another link to the video, just in case.
CTR and Allons-y!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Personalized Learning
Will Richardson's article, Preparing Students to Learn Without Us, explores personalized learning and its practice in innovative schools. Richardson plunges into the world of personalized learning and schools that are adapting this new sort of curriculum, like the Hunterdon Central Regional High School has adopted alternative credit pathways and personalized learning methods. Richardson concludes that it is important to teach students information that pertains to them, and that has time goes on and technology becomes more complex , this curriculum becomes more achievable, so to speak.
One poignant quote from Richardson's article is, "Students understand that there is no one "right" answer that the teacher expects, that there are many answers, and that the teacher and students will likely discover many of these together." This quote touches on the aspect of community aspect of personalized learning. The quote makes a lasting impression because I believe we are always learning. I like that only do the students learns from the teacher, but the teacher learns from the students. What really surprised me about the article was seeing how teachers helped connect course material to a student's interest. The example in the article is connecting the Knights in British literature to modern day football players. What surprised me the most was learning how we can connect our interests do what we are doing in school. I mean, I knew this before don't I didn't realize how universal the connections truly are.
I think connected learning is quite a marvelous idea, unless of course, we are start using extremely complex networks because, frankly I am not good with technology. Asides from technical difficulties or any disorganization it would be fantastic to become a community of learners, who can continue their passions to their schoolwork. To quote Richardson, "In other words, it's risk and reward..." I think we should take the risk, despite complication that could arise, because there would be many significant rewards, such as a renewed interest in learning. One thing that I would personally like to learn about is to write a script/ screenplay with proper format. It would be beneficial to learn and I would be more connected with the official process of writing for films and other assignments.
One poignant quote from Richardson's article is, "Students understand that there is no one "right" answer that the teacher expects, that there are many answers, and that the teacher and students will likely discover many of these together." This quote touches on the aspect of community aspect of personalized learning. The quote makes a lasting impression because I believe we are always learning. I like that only do the students learns from the teacher, but the teacher learns from the students. What really surprised me about the article was seeing how teachers helped connect course material to a student's interest. The example in the article is connecting the Knights in British literature to modern day football players. What surprised me the most was learning how we can connect our interests do what we are doing in school. I mean, I knew this before don't I didn't realize how universal the connections truly are.
I think connected learning is quite a marvelous idea, unless of course, we are start using extremely complex networks because, frankly I am not good with technology. Asides from technical difficulties or any disorganization it would be fantastic to become a community of learners, who can continue their passions to their schoolwork. To quote Richardson, "In other words, it's risk and reward..." I think we should take the risk, despite complication that could arise, because there would be many significant rewards, such as a renewed interest in learning. One thing that I would personally like to learn about is to write a script/ screenplay with proper format. It would be beneficial to learn and I would be more connected with the official process of writing for films and other assignments.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Benh Zeitlin's film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, is a masterpiece. Roger Ebert reviewed the after it's initial release, and deems the film, "miraculous" and one of the best films of the year. Ebert starts his review of the independent film, with a description of of a the plot and background information. That includes the setting and a description of our main character, six year old Hushpuppy. He continues to give a plot summary and characterization. Ebert gives detail on the setting and what it was like for the actors to film on location. The review itself is focused on the literary aspects and dramatic aspects. The reviewer calls the film one of the best films of the year and gives the film four stars. They do not give away the ending. We should structure our quarterly movie reviews by giving plot details and discussing all aspects of a film. We can discuss the films weaknesses and its strengths.We should view the movie from every aspect of film making.
Here is Roger Ebert's Reivew.
CTR and Allons-y!
Here is Roger Ebert's Reivew.
CTR and Allons-y!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
1st Annual Blog Post
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| Source: gnuckx |
My favorite part of film making is screenwriting. I like creating new characters and exploring other worlds. There is a great feeling that comes from writing our observations of life and telling our stories. It fascinates me. Also, I like cinematography. The way a cameraman can manipulate the emotion of a scene through only visuals is simply breathtaking. My favorite film project I have done is a spoof of America's Next Top Model. We weren't given much instruction but it was fun to be creative and in control of our own project. I co- wrote the script, helped with cinematography, and I was the director.
Over the year we can use the blogs to aid us with our Change Projects. We can use links and blog posts to keep all the group's resources together online.These blogs may make it easier to communicate during group projects because our sources can linked together.We could contact each other and blog about our personals thoughts and ideas regarding the assignment. Regardless, the blogs will be a good way to stay connected to our classes outside of class.
Let the blogging begin.
CTR and Allons-y!
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